Antibody E and Miscarriage...

I'm 12 weeks 2 days pregnant and went to the doctor yesterday. I was told that baby looks great but that I have Antibody E most likely from a blood transfusion I had in June of last year. I don't know what it is and I'm freaking out. All I was told was that I am now a high risk pregnancy and that I need to see a specialist. Does anyone have any information that they could share with me on what this is and if baby is in danger?

I miscarried in November 2009 at 12 weeks 6 days so I'm obviously freaking out about all of this... I keep thinking that something is going to happen again and I don't know if it's because of this new found blood issue or if it was just a random thing that could have happened. I never experienced any of this with my first pregnancy so it's all new and very scary to me!!!

I tried to look it up and found this answer on Yahoo answers.. explaining the E part more

There are more blood groups than A, B, AB, and O. E is one of those smaller blood groups. In order to have developed an antibody to the E blood group, that means you and daughter don't possess the E antigen on their red blood cells. They have been exposed to the E antigen by transfusion (most likely), and because their bodies did not recognize it, their immune systems developed antibodies against it. This won't cause any immediate problems, however, if they ever need a transfusion again, the blood they receive must not only be ABO compatible, it must be negative for the E antigen as well. Otherwise, the E antibodies will attack the donor blood and destroy it. Luckily, before receiving blood, the blood bank does an antibody screen and ID and will know to test the transfused blood for the E antigen. E negative blood is not rare and is usually always available.

And this one:

This "Antibody E" disorder is related to a lesser-known form of the Rh disease, where the mother's immune system literally attacks the growing fetus' red blood cells, causing hemolytic anemia. Rh is short for "Rhesus", the species of monkey the first studies were performed on. The more common form of this disorder is the "Rh D".

The Rh antigen is a lesser-known red blood cell antigen, akin to the widely known blood-antigens, A and B (indicators of A, B, AB, and o blood types). These antigens are why it is difficult to transfuse blood from a person with one type to another, and why they must match.

Antigens act as chemical 'flags' that tell your body whether or not the cells/molecules they are attached to are from your own body, or are foreign invaders. When a foreign antigen is introduced into a person, the immune system recognizes it as foreign and creates antibodies to destroy the "invader".

What happens is the baby produces an antigen on red blood cell surfaces - Rh E antigen, which the mother's blood does not have. Now, as your baby daughter DOES have the antigen, and the mother does not, the mother recognizes this "Rh E" antigen as foreign and produces antibodies to destroy it, consequently injuring your daughter.

Fortunately there is a chance that your wife's immune system will not notice the problem (or will be very mild), as red blood cells will not cross the placenta unless there is a breakage of vessels.

Your physician will want to closely monitor the health of your growing daughter. An early pregnancy or blood transfusion may be necessary. With proper treatment and monitoring, any damage done is usually reversible after birth.

Thank you for all the info! I have tried doing a lot of research but unfortunately there isn't too much out there on what all this is.

And yes my doctors exact words when she was telling me about it was "You have this "thing" called antibody E and that's beyond me and what I get paid to know so you need to go see a specialist" Talk about making me feel like this was all going to be okay and I didn't need to be freaking out.

Thanks everyone, please anymore info you can pass on to me will help!! Thanks!!!

I have anti E currently. My OB said it is very minor. They monitor my Anti E level every 2 weeks through blood draws. If the level gets to a 32 they have to send me to another hospital and the babies will need a blood transfusion while in utero. My level has been a 2 since 8 weeks along. I am now 14.5 weeks. My OB said out of the millions of women who have Anti E, there is something like only 5 documented cases of women needing that transfusion. My first question to my OB was "will this cause me to miscarriage?" Her answer was NO. If you DO NOT monitor Anti E and the level gets too high the baby can become anemic and die due to that. That is the reason though they watch that level so they can do a blood transfusion before it gets to that point.

You will need to make sure to tell any future docs about your Anti E if you need another transfusion.

I too, have an antibody---little c. There is an isoimmunization board here on babycenter where there are ladies like us with antibody issues. I have 6 children---I made an antibody at the end of my third pregnancy. I was fortunate that my antibody didn't cause harm to my last 3 pregnancies. First, your baby's daddy should be phenotyped for the E antigen. If he is negative than you will just go on to have a normal pregnancy. If he carries 2 copies of the E antigen gene (homozygous) than your baby will thus carry the E antigen herself and without a doubt your pregnancy will have to be monitored. If he carries one copy (heterozygous) than there is a 50/50 chance baby will also have the E antigen. You will still need monitoring unless you decide for an amnio to directly determine baby's blood status. If baby may/or has the E antigen than you will have the level of E antibody tested in your blood ---this is called a titer. This titer level will be checked monthly or until (in most hospitals) the titer reaches 1:16. At this point then you will receive a specialized ultrasound called an MCA dopplar. This ultrasound checks the velocity of blood thru the baby's mid cerebral artery. This velocity number is plotted on a graph and will let your perinatologist know whether baby is getting anemic or not. I had an MCA scan done weekly starting at 18 weeks with my last pregnancy. Thankfully my baby never got anemic. If baby gets anemic and it is to early to be born than it will receive an intrauterine blood transfusion. Blood transfusions are NOT DONE based on the level of your antibody!!!! Even baby's with mom's with high antibody levels can come out fine with no anemia!!! E, thankfully, is usually a quite mild antibody. The worst that usually happens with it is that baby will need bili lights after birth. But, with all antibodies, there is no true crystal ball on the outcome so careful monitoring is required. But please don't freak out----with careful monitoring the outcome of these babies or great!!! Check us out on the iso board and feel free to ask as many questions as you want!!! Some woman over there with more aggressive antibodies (kell antibody) actually required multiple intrauterine blood transfusions as well as blood transfusions for baby after birth and their kids are doing great!!!!